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Despite staying at SS3, I seldom venture into the commercial area arguably nearest to where I stay for dinner. Restaurant Double Joy was actually introduced by Shiang, one of my futsal buddies, who was in turn introduced to this “tai chao” place by one of his friends, a regular customer.

Restaurant Double Joy, PJ SS3

The restaurant is located at an unassuming shop lot on Jalan SS 3/37. Parking is usually a pretty simple affair, but the restaurant does get crowded if you don’t get there early enough.

The dining area is air conditioned (except for a couple tables on the walk way), and the place is kept pretty clean and comfortable for a restaurant of this standard.

3 cup chicken, fish head with fermented soya bean, simple vege dish

For the five of us, we ordered four dishes to go with steamed rice for dinner.

The three cup chicken was quite flavorful but slightly to the sweeter side, which goes well with steamed rice and a bit of chili padi. For those who likes a stronger tasting chicken cooked in clay pot, “fa tiu kai” would be a better choice, and my favorite would be the version at Kien Kee Seri Kembangan (which also serves very good spicy soup).

The fish head with fermented soya bean is one of the dishes that’s quite special. The sauce hits the palate just the right way. If you’re a fan of fish head, this is a version that you must try.

clay pot pork with yam, best consume while piping hot

Another unique dish here was the clay pot pork with yam. The pork was very tender, and the yam cooked to the point they pretty much blend together with the sauce. It was a dish that is very rich and satisfying, but also one that you have to eat while piping hot, lest it become too overwhelmingly sticky. I really enjoyed this.

As always, we also ordered a plate of green vegetable to satisfy the illusion of ingesting some fiber with vitamin C. This dish was not very eventful, but aren’t they always?

5 of us had these four dishes, recommended by Shiang

The meal came to be around RM 15 or so per person, I’d put Restaurant Double Joy right up there with the likes of Lucky Loke so far as tai chau goes, and would love to re-visit to try their other dishes again.

After cooking regularly for a better part of a year now, I thought it’s about time we try dishes that is a little bit more challenging, and since Haze has a thing for braised pork belly with yam (芋头扣肉), we decided to give it a go.

The following recipe is perhaps the simplest formulation for a good braised pork belly with yam, but that being said, it still requires at least 3-4 hours of cooking time to complete. The result though, if done properly, is a serving of yummy succulent pork with buttery soft yam good enough for 4 person.

braised pork belly slices with yam

The ingredients:

pork belly – 600 gram

one small/medium size yam

2 tablespoon dark soya sauce

6-8 shallots

half a bulb of garlic

2 cubes of namyu (fermented bean curd)

cooking oil

2 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 tablespoon soya sauce

1/2 teaspoon five spice

pepper to taste

a big slab of pork and yam, enough to feed 4 pax

Cooking method can be divided into 4 major steps, pork preparation, yam preparation, frying, and steaming. Divide and conquer make things easier now isn’t it?

step 1 – yam preparation:

cut yam into thick slices (same thickness as pork)

heat up frying pan with 2 tablespoon of oil, then fry yam for 3-4 minutes

arrange the pork and yam alternately in a bowl (or in this case, a metal plate)

steam for a minimum of 2-3 hours

And you are done! Do always keep an eye to ensure that your steamer don’t run out of water in the process. If a pressure cooker is used, the steaming process can be cut short considerably (20-30 minutes, I will try this method next time).